News

Emotion and peer influence play much bigger roles in influencing behavior than previously understood.

Donald Trump’s election—and now, his presidency—have invited fundamental questions about the trustworthiness of the news media, of science and measurement, and, indeed, the very idea of objective truth. When President Trump levels his charge of “fake news” at mainstream news organizations, Exhibit A is Trump’s victory in the election despite widely reported polling and statistical models that suggested he would lose.

As my market research industry colleague, Josh Chasin of Comscore said in a recent commentary:

“The fact that the polls all said he’d lose, but then he won, serve to prove to Trump and those around him that mainstream media is fake news, while nonsense like Fox or Breitbart or Infowars are legit. And let’s face it― our collective worlds were rocked by this twist, and even those of us steeped in logic and leaning left have been doubting the veracity of things we have taken to be true our whole lives.”

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